The Streets of San Francisco (TV Series) A String of Puppets (1974) User Reviews

Good mini-movie!

[filmklassik · 8/10 · 15 January 2017]

Very strong episode -- tense clever, well-written, and given a feature-quality "look" by director Richard Donner 4 years before he made SUPERMAN and 13 years before LETHAL WEAPON.

Donner's compositions are spot on. He supplies plenty of "eye candy," shooting his actors on rooftops, in front of picture windows, before bays and bridges, using a minimum of zoom shots (the blight of 70s filmmaking) and a maximum of smoothly choreographed blocking.

And I don't know who the director of photography was on this show but they do some excellent work here.

Finally, it was a particularly clever touch having undercover musician Douglas turn out to be a mediocre horn player.

A less intelligent show would have made him good at it -- which would have been absurd.

Powerful People Should Wear Their Power Lightly

[dand1010 · 9/10 · 4 September 2021]

1- VIEWERS CHECK THIS OUT.....................

*I WOULD RATHER BE IN HAWAII WITH TOM SELLECK!!!

19:53 Roger Mosley appears as a car wash attendant. He only has a few lines of dialogue and he doesn't last an entire scene before tragedy strikes. Mosley would go on to co-star for 8 seasons as T. C. on the original Magnum P. I. with Tom Selleck. In this episode of TSOSF check out Mosley's afro and his nose ring capturing the 70's vibe.

*MICHAEL DOUGLAS WEARS A PERM AND TRIES OUT FOR LOLA FALANA'S JAZZ BAND!

Michael Douglas dons a tweed wool hat, grows a thick mustache and gets his hair all curled in a permanent style to go undercover to root out corruption in the probation office. Every time he is on the screen I try to contain my laughter. When he tries out for Lola Falana's jazz band by playing the trumpet, I was not expecting the result at all!

*HERE COMES AKINS! GET OUT OF SIGHT!

At 47:01 when Bob Mason (Claude Akins) pulls up to Lola Falana's apartment you can see at least 3 members of the film crew in the reflection of the door try to duck out of the camera's view.

*POLICE OFFICERS IN REAL LIFE HATE THIS SCENE.... At 49:12 one of the worst "creative license" moves that Hollywood has used down through the years is when the bad guy has a hostage or otherwise has what appears to be upper hand and he tells the police officers on the scene to drop their guns. This would never happen in the real world as officers are trained to never drop their weapons or give up their guns under ANY circumstances. The twisted aspect of this particular scene is 5 officers (including Keller) simultaneously drop their guns on the ground. If it wasn't such a distortion of the real world it would be absolutely hilarious to see 5 police officers disarm so quickly and easily.

*STONE ATTEMPTS TO DO THE BLM SYMBOL WITH HIS FIST...... At 50:54 Roger Mosley gives Karl Malden the "solid" symbol - one fist raised in the air - for helping him out. When Mosley says, "thanks", Stone (Malden) does the symbol (makes an attempt anyway) and says, "What's with this thanks?" The solidarity symbol Mosley and Malden used has been adopted by BLM as part of their logo.

2- A One Sentence Plot Synopsis: *A corrupt parole officer uses his authority to put together a jewel heist team to make several scores.

3- Final Reflective Analysis and Final Grade: *This is a well-thought-out and acted episode. The director of this episode (Richard Donner) goes on to make a mark for himself in Hollywood directing big budget action movies. There are several good guest star performances but the one who stood out above the rest is Lola Falana. Not only can she sing (which she does a couple of times in the episode) but she can act as well.

Final Grade: A-

Under cover Keller!

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 6 July 2022]

A String of Puppets is a likable episode. We got Aka Sheriff Lobo, instead of being a corrupt Sheriff, is a corrupt parole officer who is setting up scores. The usual series mechanic of a homicide and suspicious motives. More details in String of Puppets then other episodes like, why the parole officer turned sour. The need of an under cover agent no one know is a great plot device. Keller gets a perm and becomes a musician, and build a cover. Great acting by Douglas. The other characters are great psychos and sleazes. A String of Puppets has a great characters which drive the story line. Sheriff Lobo is about as slippery parole officer as he was as the old Sheriff. If your going watch any Streets for season 2 A String of Puppets is the one too watch. 7 stars.